From ‘charging’ P4.7m to a corruption charge
Spira Tlhankane | Monday January 26, 2026 06:00
According to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP, Moagi stands accused of turning public office into private gain after allegedly demanding millions from the energy company in exchange for licences meant to be issued in the public interest.
In the particulars of offence, the DPP alleges that Moagi, “being a Minister of the State, therefore a public officer,” corruptly accepted a staggering P4, 706, 000 from New Energy Company (Pty) Ltd through intermediaries and associated companies.
The charge sheet read out aloud to Moagi during his arraignment this week states that on or about April 17 2024, Moagi “accepted for himself valuable consideration from New Energy Company (Pty) Ltd, through Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd in the sum of P4 706 000.00,” money prosecutors say was not a legitimate payment but a reward. “The licences commenced on October 15, 2024 and expire on September 30, 2027. After the due processes of verification, the Minister approved the licences. At the time the Minister was Moagi,” states an affidavit filed as part of an ex parte application by the DPP. The DPP outlines a trail designed to distance the former minister from the money. The money, according to investigators, was deposited into a Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd account held at Bank Gaborone, after which Moagi allegedly gained access to the funds through a bank card issued to him.
The charge sheet is explicit and states that Moagi “was given a bank card by Wisecreatives Investments to access, and indeed accessed the funds from the company and its associated company, Riders (Pty) Ltd”
“What I note here is that New Energy Company wanted to gift Moagi with the money, but since they were conflicted as Moagi had approved their licenses, that would have amounted to a case of corruption. Instead, they chose to use Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd as the middleman to hide the true source of the money, which is New Energy Company. This is a classical case of money laundering where the consideration has been so disguised to hide its true source,” Principal Anti-Corruption Officer, Tendani Christinah Setume of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) stated in the affidavit.
In other words, prosecutors allege that the former minister did not merely benefit indirectly, but allegedly personally accessed and used the money. “My investigations have revealed that Moagi paid ZAR 1, 053 630.00 to Crowford International North Coast College in Durban, South Africa, being payment for tuition, accommodation fees for his son Kgato Lefoko Asante Moagi, using money from the Wisecreatives bank account. My investigations have also revealed Moagi was the one spending the money in bank card linked to a bank account held at Bank Gaborone in the names of Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd,” Setume said. Setume disclosed that on July 11, 2025, her investigation team conducted a search at Moagi’s residence, and during the search, a bank card was seized. “This is the same bank card that belongs to Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd and was issued to Wisecreatives Investments (Pty) Ltd when Zheng Li opened a bank account with Bank Gaborone. This is the same bank card that was credited with P4, 706 000.00 by New Energy Company and Riders apparently for the benefit of Moagi, who has been using it to buy personal items for himself,” she further revealed.
At the heart of the case is the allegation that the payment was a payoff for regulatory favours. The DPP asserts that “the said amounts were being a reward for issuing New Energy prospective licences for base metals” in areas squarely under Moagi’s ministerial oversight.
Those licences covered the Gantsi, Tsabong and Tutume districts, regions rich in mineral potential and subject to ministerial discretion. The prosecution emphasises that these were “matters in which he was concerned in his capacity as a public officer”, a key element of the corruption charge. In simple terms, the DPP’s case is that what began as an alleged P4.7 million demand for licences evolved into a full-blown corruption charge, among others. Once investigators traced the money, the access card, and the licences issued.
The charge sheet, dated 24 December 2025 and signed “For/ Director of Public Prosecutions”, marks a dramatic fall for a man who once sat at the centre of Botswana’s energy and minerals policy.
Whether the court will ultimately agree that the millions were a corrupt “reward” or a lawful transaction remains to be tested. But for now, the DPP’s case paints a blunt picture of licences out, millions in and a former minister now facing the full weight of the law.